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A Critical Analysis of a Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson Bill Bryson returned to America after 20 years and decided to walk the Appalachian Trail for many reasons one of which was so he could say “Yeah, I’ve shit in the woods.”(Bryson, Pg 4) The Appalachian Trail is more than 2100 miles and it goes through 14 states. It was the first hiking trail in America and is maintained by volunteers. Bill wasn’t particularly keen on walking the trail on his own. He got his Stephen Katz an old school friend of his that had become “in effect, Iowa’s drug culture” (Bryson, Pg 21) to walk the trail with him. They began their journey on March 9, 1996 not knowing what would come in the days ahead of them. Their first day “was hell” and “every step was a struggle”. (Bryson, Pg 35) It ended with Bill being “too tired to be indignant” and “too tired to be hungry” and being “asleep in moments.” Bill Bryson in between his day to day experiences on the trail gives information from books that he read during and before walking the trail. One of the funniest parts of the book in my opinion is when he is talking about the Forest Service in between the first and second day. He said “ Show them a stand of trees anyw